Michael Chugani 褚简宁 - staring us in the face｜又中又英

Climate change is no longer just creeping on us.It is staring us in the face.The recent COP27 conference in Egypt attended by world leaders warned time is running out to slow climate change.Many governments understand climate change is staring us in the face but most ordinary people,including Hong Kong people,don't seem to take it seriously. There are even people,including politicians,who insist climate change is a hoax,which means a trick to make people believe something that is not true.If something is creeping on you it means it is moving very slowly.If something is staring you in the face it means it is very obvious or certain to happen.

Climate change is real,not a hoax.COP27 stands for the 27th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to discuss climate change.The plan is to achieve net zero CO2 by the year 2050. Net zero CO2 means the balance between the amount of polluting gasses produced by humans and the amount removed from atmosphere through forests and oceans.If the world can reduce the polluting use of coal and other fuels to the point that the gasses can be naturally removed by nature, then it has achieved net zero CO2. I am sure countries can do this if they all put politics aside.

Time is running out. A new report by an expert group called the Global Carbon Budget warns we only have 11 years to reduce polluting gasses if we want to avoid the worst damage from climate change.It is a scary report because failure means rising oceans,drought,floodings,and super typhoons.
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气候变化不再是悄悄步近（creeping），它是明摆在我们面前（staring us in the face）。最近各国领袖出席在埃及的COP27气候大会，会上发出警告：要延缓气候变化，时间已经不多了。许多政府明白到，气候变化肯定会发生（staring us in the face），但普罗大众，包括香港人，大多看似并未认真看待。甚至还有人，包括政客，坚持气候变化只是一个hoax，意思是它只是一个骗局，不是真的。若某事在creeping on you，意即它缓慢悄悄地走近；若某事是staring you in the face，意即它是显而易见的，或肯定会发生。

气候变化是真的，并不是骗局（hoax）。 COP27代表Conference of the Parties，国际公约缔约国第二十七届讨论气候变化的会议。会议计划在二○五○年达至net zero CO2。Net zero CO2即净零排放——人类所制造的温室气体排放量，与环境中被森林和海洋所吸收、移除的量，可以达到平衡。若全世界可以将煤及其他燃料的使用量，减少至所有气体被大自然天然吸收，那就可达至净零排放（net zero CO2）。如果能抛开政治，我相信各国都能做得到。

没有时间了。一个名为「全球碳预算」的专业组织的新闻报告警戒我们，如果想避免气候变化带来最差的损害，我们只余十一年时间去减少温室气体。这是一个非常可怕的报告，因为一旦失败，意味着我们将要面对海平面上升、旱灾、洪涝和超级台风。中译：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁